Emily Rudd

Fear Street Part 3: 1666 (2021) Review

THE FINAL ACT DOES NOT DISAPPOINT

★★★★★

Fear Street Part 3: 1666 the final chapter of the Fear Street Trilogy launched on July 16, 2021 on Netflix. The final entry is upon us. Will we learn about Sarah Fier and the reason behind the curse? Spoilers ahead because frankly we can’t talk about part three without significant ones.

It’s 1666 and we get to see where the curse began. Kiana Madeira who portrays Deena in the previous two films, brings Sarah Fier to life in part three. Olivia Scott Welch who portrays Sam in the previous two entries, brings Hannah Miller to life. It’s a perfect way to ensure the audience knows the relationship between these two characters without the need to develop it with two new actresses. We know Sam and Deena love one another. Is it centuries old love? One could argue the film lays this out but in a more sub-textual way.

During the course of the film, the water supply is poisoned, the pastor commits heinous crimes and the town’s peacefulness is destroyed by evil. Due to the time and the fact that women were to be blamed for a ton of things mankind couldn’t control, women are being hung for bringing this darkness to them all. Sarah and Hannah are strung up, but Sarah begs to save Hannah. She lies about being a witch and takes on the full responsibility. Hannah is saved, but Sarah Fier pays with her life.

The twist here: witchcraft is real and one who wields it lives outside of town. She has books of satanic spells and if one of her books got into the wrong hands… it would be very dangerous. Once Sarah dies, we’re thrust forward to 1994 and Deena knows what she has to do to save Sam.

The final battle reveals the big bad was Nick Goode and his family the entire time. His ancestors stole the book and cast a spell. Every generations eldest would need to select names of Shadysiders. Those individuals would go on a rampage and feed the curse. In return, Sunnyvale would be peaceful and the Goode family line would prosper.

While we were a little, ehh, about how the final battle ensues, the final installment is good. The ending was strong and very 90’s horror with the possibility for a sequel. It was an enjoyable series with the difficulties one expects from three films released within the same year. It’s not easy, but this was executed well.

One final thought. From part one, Kimberly kept saying Nick Goode can’t be good. He has to be the villain. His name, for her, was too on the nose. 

Fear Street Part 2: 1978 (2021) Review

BRUTAL, HONEST & GORY

★★★★★

Fear Street Part Two: 1978 came to Netflix on July 9, 2021. The second film in the Fear Street Trilogy continues building the suspense and terror of the Sarah Fier story. While the first film laid down the foundation with less visual bloodshed than we’ve seen in straight up horror films. The second entry into the series is darker, bloodier and leaves us with the feeling of helplessness.

At the end of part one, Deena receives a call from Cindy Berman, the only living survivor of the Camp Nightwing Massacre. Cindy meets with Deena, her brother, and a possessed Sam, at her house. We then crash back into the past and to Cindy’s nightmare.

Now that we’ve said that… welcome to Camp Nightwing in 1978! Once again, we’re shown that Shadyside houses deplorable teenagers, do-gooders who think they can get away from the stink of their hometown and the troublemaker tweens who don’t care anymore. On the other side of the tracks, this installment reinforces Sunnyvale as the good kids with bright futures. But death doesn’t discriminate… or does it?

Ziggy, Cindy’s baby sister, is a tormented camper. She’s bullied by other campers and almost strung up by Sunnyvale campers. She befriends Nick Goode, the future sheriff of Sunnyvale, and it’s revealed they have feelings for one another. He wants to protect her and maybe get a bit of revenge on those bullies.

During the course of the film, a counselor named Tommy becomes possessed and goes on a killing spree through the camp. Nick Goode gets the campers out of town, but not before Cindy and her sister Ziggy are attacked at the base of Sarah Fier’s hanging tree. When Nick finds them after the bloodshed has stopped, he revives Ziggy and tells police her name is Cindy. In a twist, Cindy Berman never survived. Ziggy did.

We are then left with a really excellent cliffhanger involving Deena.

That’s the short and sweet of the film. While many believed the first to be the weakest installment of all three, we think this film is. That said, it’s a good film and does what a second installment should, it gives us more information about what would be going on before passing us to the final one. It’s brutal, it’s harsh, and it works.